Bilkent University
Mechanical Engineering Department
TÜBİTAK TEYDEB (7130643)
Start Date: June 1st, 2013
Expected Completion Date: May 1st, 2014
A common tool for the determination of the thermal characteristics of fin-and-tube heat exchangers is the experimental testing. However, experimental testing is not feasible considering the cost and the labor-time. One alternative to the experimental testing is the utilization of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to predict the thermal characteristics of these kinds of radiators. However, CFD models are also not suitable to be used as a design tool since the considerably amount of computational power and the computational time required due to the complex geometric structures of the fins. This issue becomes problematic when the large-scale heavy-duty radiators are considered. One solution for this issue is to utilize a reduced model to simulate the airflow within the fin structures based on porous flow. In this project, a methodology to model the thermal characteristics of a radiator will be presented. A porous flow based reduced model will be developed to model the airflow within the fin structure. Utilizing the reduced model, a 3-D CFD analysis of a radiator with straight fins will be performed. Both the pressure drop and the temperature of the cold fluid, which is air, and the hot fluid, which is water, will be determined. It is expected that by the introduction of the reduced model, the computational time and the computational power required will decrease drastically, which will enable this CFD model as a design tool for radiator design.